Bord Gais of Ireland Gets $200 Million From EIB for Onshore Wind

The funds will help Cork-based Bord Gais build and operate
six onshore farms with a total capacity of 141 megawatts,
representing an investment of 311 million euros, the EIB said
today in a statement.

The loan will be taken either as a nine-year facility
repaid in one payment or as a 15-year amortizing loan, Christine
Heffernan, a spokeswoman at Bord Gais, said by e-mail, declining
to disclose the rate. “The terms are very good as the EIB
operates on a not-for-profit basis,” she said.

Bord Gais is pushing for wind-power expansion as Ireland
seeks to get 40 percent of its electricity from renewables by
2020, up from about 18 percent last year. The Luxembourg-based
EIB, which backs clean-power investment across Europe, has
provided more than 1.4 billion euros for energy infrastructure
in Ireland in the past five years, according to the bank.

Bord Gais, which sold 500 million euros of bonds on Nov.
21, plans to complete the projects in Tipperary, Clare and
Kilkenny counties in 2013 to 2014, according to the statement.
They range from the 48-megawatt Kill Hill plant to the 6.9-
megawatt Ballymartin I park, according to the company.

To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Sally Bakewell in London at
Sbakewell1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net